Another compliment from one of my other guitar heros

Hey Joe....

I just received the September newsletter and you got a nice mention from Rik Emmett himself.  This is direct from the newsletter.....

QUESTION OF THE MONTH
Each month, a new question (and answer from Rik) is selected from the questions that appear on the Network Members Messageboard at www.RikEmmett.com . There are usually 8 to 10 questions (or more) posted each month, with interesting, enlightening, and often humorous responses.  Marc brings us this month's question:
Marc writes:
Rik,

Was curious on who your favorite Guitar players were from various decades?? Maybe a little elaboration if you would? For example, my list would include-

60's- Hendrix, Steve Cropper

70's- Jimmy Page, Angus Young

80's- Eddie Van Halen, Rik Emmett, Randy Rhoades,

90's- Jerry Cantrell

2000-present- John Mayer

Thanks!!

Marc
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Rik's reply:
The problem for me is - how to deal with guitarists who keep getting better, decade after decade?

60's - My own personal inspiration & education began with The Beatles. Along came Clapton, then Hendrix , Page and Beck.

70's - Page and Beck. But I had entered into my Blackmore period, which lasted from maybe '69 or '70 for a few years at least. During that time, along came the progressive guys - and mostly Steve Howe of Yes. But how can I overlook the influence of David Gilmour & Jan Akkerman ? --- and my head & heart was opening to the genius of Joe Pass, Wes Montgomery, Django Reinhardt --- the entire world of guitar was becoming important to me. Santana was a very influential guitarist: but so were Segovia and Julian Bream, as classical players. What about Paul Simon? How many of his tunes did I learn to play at high school parties? James Taylor? But the '70's is also when I eventually started in Triumph - '75 - so the heavy influences there were Page and Blackmore. Yet everything was steeped in the blues-rock that I had encountered through Clapton. But if you were to ask me -- what did I consider to be the most important guitar records of the 70's? I would have Beck's Blow by Blow and Wired right up there near the top of the list - maybe Blow by Blow in top spot by a wide margin. When Guitar Player magazine asks, on its recent Jeff Beck cover, is this the greatest guitarist of them all ...? ... I would have to say - I think he might be the greatest of the boomer generation, yes. Maybe not the most influential on me personally, for the guitarist I started out as, professionally, but certainly, in my intellectual consideration of this kind of topic, I would probably have to vote for him, as the most important guitarist to affect the industry, after Hendrix [even though, emotionally and contextually, I would still opt for Clapton, Page and Blackmore as the guys that MOVED me more ... ] Plus - the other day, watching the video for Never Say Never - I had completely, totally forgotten about the intro to the tune, "Prologue: Into The Forever" --- which is pure, unadulterated homage to the influence of Jeff Beck. And if you think about things like Epilogue Resolution, or Little Boy Blues ---- it's pretty obvious that Jeff Beck reigns supreme, eventually, as my biggest single influence, coming out of that decade, and over into the '80's.

80's - Beck. By the time Triumph was winding down, for me, towards the end of that decade, it seemed that I had lost my enthusiasm for the things that guitar was bringing to the world of 'pop' & rock music. My tastes were starting to run towards more sophisticated players of fusion styles: Pat Metheny, Larry Carlton. I would spend more recreational time listening to my old Steely Dan records, and new acoustic players, than I would to rockers from popularity contests. I was personally leaving 'rock' guitar behind, as it was failing to move me emotionally. You are younger than me, so you were listening to a guy like Jerry Cantrell from Alice in Chains. I admit - I wasn't even paying any attention to that stuff any more. My bad, I realize - but a human being can only pay attention to, and digest, a certain amount of stuff. My love of Pat Metheny was well-developed by the back end of this decade.

90's - Metheny. Without a doubt, in my mind, one of the most important guitarists of my generation. I would put him right up there with Beck, for different reasons, but for the same amount of guitar musicianship & virtuosity that appeals to my taste. Intellectually, I would say he is a far superior musician than Jeff Beck, but Beck uses sustain and distortion to capture a singing style of guitar playing that Pat never approaches --- Pat always goes to his guitar synth / trumpet-sounding patch when he wants sustaining, singing, wailing - which is cool, but does not push my pleasure buttons in the same way that Beck's overdriven sounds & tones do. Once a rocker, always a bit of a rocker, I reckon. 

2000 to present ---- John Mayer is a good choice, because he is a well-rounded singer/songwriter/guitarist, which is right up my taste alley. I do enjoy the smooth jazzings of Peter White, and Acoustic Alchemy. Tommy Emmanuel should definitely show up in a 'survey' type question like this. While Mayer is probably a much better tunesmith than Tommy, and lives more in the 'pop' and 'rock' world, I would have to say that Tommy is as much a 'monster' of the acoustic guitar as Jeff Beck is as my still-reigning preferred 'monster' of the electric one.

For honorable mention, I would like to toss Joe Bonamassa's name out there, as a younger guy from a new generation who has the right idea about guitar-playing, a la Eric Clapton , as far as I can tell.
Cheers,
r.

Very KOOL!!!!!!